Mike Vukovcan Hopewell Township- In Hopewell’s best performance of the day, the 8-Year-Old All-Star team held on to beat a very talented Quaker Valley team, 10-9.
Aside from beating a very good team, the most impressive thing about this win was how this group of young kids were able to yesterday’s 15-5 loss to Ambridge behind them and were focused from the start and played a solid 6 innings.
As the final score indicates, this game came with plenty of suspense as Hopewell had a 10-2 leading going to the last inning and had to scrap to hold onto the win.
The Vikings had possibly their best offensive performance of the summer as they collected 20 hits, many of them were smoked.
Leading the way with 3 hits for Hopewell were Harper Lavia, Trent Michael and Brody Tournay. Three players had two hits- Cam Winiarski, Hudson Lavia and Obie DeCanio. Cam and Obie were really sharp as they hit a couple rockets to the outfield.
The 10 RBI getters for Hopewell were- DeCanio (2), Colton Eiler (2), August Arostegui (2), Michael (2) and Tournay (2).
Game Recap:
Top 3rd: Hopewell had a 1-0 lead and were able to add on in the 3rd as Tournay came through with an RBI single to score Harper Lavia. Then with 2 outs, DeCanio hit an opposite field 2-run single to right which brought in Michael and Winiarski, Hopewell led 4-0.
Bottom of 4th: A key part of the game, Quaker Valley scored 2 runs and were threatening to score more as they had 2 on with 0 out. The next hitter hit a line drive back to the mound which Harper Lavia snagged and immediately fired the ball to second base to double off the runner who was running to third. The next batter hit a pop fly to short left field which third baseman Hudson Lavia tracked down to end the inning. Hopewell 4-2.
Top 5th: Hopewell immediately responded and extended their lead. With 1 out, Michael doubled to left field, which brought in Winiarski. Next up, Tournay also ripped a double to left, which scored Michael. Hopewell wasn’t done as Eiler singled with 2 outs to bring in Tournay and that was followed by a 2-run single by Arostegui. Hopewell now led 9-2.
Bottom of 6th: As mentioned earlier, Hopewell led 10-2 going to the final inning but Quaker Valley didn’t fold. They would score 7 runs to make the score 10-9 and had 2 runners on with 2 out. However, the game ended as the QV hitter hit a deep fly ball to left field that was caught by Declan Rinaldi.
Wow, what a game, what a win!!
Hopewell 8-Year-Old All-Star Team
FINAL SCORE: HOPEWELL 10 QUAKER VALLEY 9
WINNING IS FUN!!
These two teams will have a rematch tomorrow morning in bracket play. First pitch is set for 9:30 AM.
